But no, that's damn cool. I struggle rendering my LoL games, stupid fraps taking 900MB for a 30 second clip... I used to do some basic 3d work, but the Pentium 4 I was running it on felt slower than a Mini Cooper with a pair of elephats in the back....

Kind of put me off when I would render out someting, only to find a mistake and taking another 6 hours+ rendering out the right one...

*Insert Sarcasm* O really...
But no, that's damn cool. I struggle rendering my LoL games, stupid fraps taking 900MB for a 30 second clip... I used to do some basic 3d work, but the Pentium 4 I was running it on felt slower than a Mini Cooper with a pair of elephats in the back....
Kind of put me off when I would render out someting, only to find a mistake and taking another 6 hours+ rendering out the right one...

Glad to inform you the procedure to transform my graphics card into a Quadro 4000 Quiet Edition has started I opted to keep the stock fan to cool the RAM chips and to prevent complaints from the Forceware driver (don't know if it supports a silent Quadro Fermi card...). With precision cutting I should be able to maintain 90% of the original heatsink metal duct and cover, only the heatsink itself becomes replaced by the huge Spitfire

Then I cut out the frame where the VRAM chips are, because like every Quadro card, to interface RAM chips and frame they use very thick thermal pads which I cannot find. With the cutouts I can use normal RAM square heatsinks.

Clearance check, I would have had to cut the top part anyway to make room for the Spitfire tubes...

Placing the RAM heatsinks.

With a slight modification to the fins, the frame remains detachable without having to peel off the heatsinks from the RAMs first.

First tests with the Spitfire. A modified GF100 retention bracket fits perfectly over the stock frame.

Like i said, I kept 90% of the original mounting hardware, the stock rear RAM heatsink is strong and bolted in 8 points, no need for the TR X-shaped backplate. Heatsink secured with four standard M3 bolts, washers and anti-loosening devices.

Top part has been cut to fit the Spitfire heatpipes protruding from the card.

Ready for first functioning test without the top Quadro cover, but I'm planning on placing it back with a square cutout where the GF100 is, that retention system sticks out slightly more than the cover, anyway single-slot compatibility is still guaranteed

Why did I keep the stock fan? Because this is a Quadro 4000 card with a tacho+PWM fan, and since there's no fanless standard-layout Fermi-based Quadro card (600-2000-4000-5000-6000) I don't know how would the Forceware driver react to a Quadro card with 0 RPM fan. Second, the stock fan running on minimum speed (1/3, 2000RPM) cools half of VRAM, the small VRM section right under it and remains dead silent.

EDIT: I will have to detach HSF and frame to make a small mod to enhance retention system strength, and I will have to prepare a little support bar to hang it on the case top aux support bracket, it is not mandatory since the Quadro 4000 with the stock metal frame bolted to it in 14 points is very sturdy and little prone to drooping, but since I have just 3mm of clearance between that and the USB3.0 card beneath... I'd like to prevent any possible touching

PS: I thought they would suffer but it seems not: CPU0 which has its fan taking air from the Spitfire now in front of it, idles at 52°C like its companion idling at 51°C. I'll have to change the CPU cooling setup anyway since a top-blowing HSF with a huge GPU radiator in front of it, that's not good I have a Scythe 140x140 PWM+VR exhaust fan on the way, I'll take measures to see which small tower HSFs fit, or big top-blowing run in fanless mode.Edited by pm40elys40 - 3/4/13 at 6:09am